Chapter 416: The 2018–2019 Season Ends.
In early February, Derrick Jones Jr. withdrew from this year’s dunk contest due to injury. His replacement was a young player named Hamidou Diallo.
It seemed like a foregone conclusion—until Han Sen’s memories started to return. He remembered that in "history," Diallo had actually won the dunk contest this year. So during the prep phase, Han loaded Mitchell up with as many creative ideas as possible.
Sure enough, the result was exactly as expected: with Han acting as assistant and creative director, plus Mitchell’s high-flying explosiveness as a small guard, he edged out Diallo in the finals to claim the 2019 Dunk Contest title.
That sealed it—the Kings swept the Skills Challenge, Three-Point Contest, and Dunk Contest. They were the biggest winners of All-Star Saturday.
This wave of wins shifted the spotlight toward the young core surrounding Han Sen. People started to realize: this group might actually be for real.
The final day of All-Star Weekend featured the main event—the All-Star Game, the most anticipated event of the weekend.
As the host, Michael Jordan made a rare appearance at the All-Star venue, and joining him was someone who hadn’t been seen publicly in a long time: Kobe Bryant.
Two retired legendary shooting guards, finally in the same frame again.
Both looked visibly bulkier—a reminder that post-retirement weight gain was almost unavoidable, no matter what path a former player took.
During warmups, Kobe came over to chat with Han Sen.
He had something to share: not long ago, he accepted FIBA’s invitation to become an ambassador for this year’s FIBA World Cup in China.